Zero: Diamond Birthday
by kaelenmitharos
Summary: My parting gift to you all: an excerpt from the life of Zero Doppler of "Zero: Diamond Earth." If you haven't read Diamond Earth, find it on my profile and read it, then this. The d'aww will make your heart break. And if that doesn't do it for you, the intricately choreographed death match will. One-shot, AU, OC. Enjoy!


_Author's note:_

_Since I just know you're all weeping tears of salty, salty sadness at my departure from the site, I have one last parting gift. I made it some time ago as a belated birthday present to a fan and shared it with one or two others. Today, I make it public for the first time. A few of my cuter font tricks don't work in ff dot net's limited format, but hey, it is a free site. _

_I hope you enjoy this window into Zero Doppler's past. There are a couple of small spoilers if you haven't read up through chapter 14 of the main story, but nothing major. In fact, the events of this chapter fall within a period of his life that doesn't really get much attention in "Zero: Diamond Earth." As for what period that is, and what events those are, read on._

* * *

**Part 1: Admonition**

Flash stared, twitching, at the screen of his teleconsole as the full-bodied clamor of explosions and gunfire rocked the room. His fingers tapped on the keyboard so quickly that the individual clicking sounds blurred into a tonal noise whose pitch rose or fell as he sped up or slowed down.

"Die, you sons of guns, diediediediedie DIE!" he screamed, to the background of more explosions.

His roommate Quint quailed in the corner, mumbling to himself. "I hate it when he plays online games."

"Hah! You're fragged, sonny, and your little Covenant buddies are next!"

"He could at least play only one game at a time. Even watching the screen hurts my eyes."

"Protoss own your sorry houses, nyah hahaha hah!"

"Or maybe just two or three…"

"Mine! That tiberium is all mine, foo'!"

"Five is just way too many."

"Six," Flash corrected, crossing briefly through the real world.

"And why would you play if you're just going to cheat?"

"We're all hackers anyway, its part of the fun AAARGH no you don't you freaker!"

Quint shook his head, put on a pair of headphones, and slotted a little chip into one of the earpieces. His crazed roommate's rantings and the video game noises dissolved, replaced with "Chapter Four: Bypassing Particulate Subnet Psuedomasks with YBC MIP." Quint lay down on his bed and put a pillow over his face, allowing the smooth female voice to wash educationally through his head.

At that moment Flash's brow wrinkled. His TC was making a noise not associated with any of the strategy games, shooters, or MMORPG's running at the moment. It was just a low, gentle beeping. He blinked.

"Oh. It's Iris." The brunet's fingers brushed the call reception keys on their way to somewhere else, and his sister's face popped up in a corner of the screen. She flinched as an entire battalion of Space Marines died screaming and a tauren warrior hero roared somewhere close at hand.

"Flash, please make the games quiet when you're talking to me," the sixteen-year-old girl said with her hands over her ears.

"It's all good, Sis," her brother said as the noises faded. "What's in the hoooouuuse? Die you freaker die die don't you dare pull that on me I'll burn your flippin' farms to the ground you sonofagun," he added under his breath. "I'm doing fine, no worry, be happy. Nyahahahaha, I win."

"Zero's birthday is coming up very soon, Flash. Has he said anything about it?"

"No. That's my sniper rifle hey don't you dare steal my life I'll steal your soul. Why?"

"The last two years he got really depressed on his birthday. I think it has to do with his parents. We need to do something special for him."

"Aargh my invincibility you scum you pierced my invincibility I'll fill you full of holes. What kind of hoo joo juice didja wanna dooooo?"

"I don't know yet. Something to remind him he's not alone. If you don't mind, I need you to patch me through to his girlfriend sometime soon."

"Yeah, I'll try to make it happen for you, Sis. No more level amping for you you little pixie zombie. You been toooole'. But she doesn't answer her TC unless it's from Zero. I think she hates me, and you too. Game over, I own your whole guild. Ha. She keeps him plenty happy anyway. Hur hur hur," he chuckled.

"I'm sure Miss Kyuubit doesn't hate us, but she's…he needs more than her. Please do your best to get her to talk to us so we can arrange things properly. It's very important that Zero know his friends are there for him on his birthday. And, Flash…please be more careful with the teleport program this time. You remember what happened last year."

For once the mad programmer was silent, his visage drawn into a scowl. Iris, watching his face through her own teleconsole at home, lowered her gaze. "Thank you, big brother. I'll talk to you later."

* * *

**Part Two: Entwined**

The two teenagers were alone in the sorority clubhouse. Zero Doppler had discarded, for the moment, his forbidding scarlet plate mail and black bodysuit, though he kept his sabre sheathed at his side. Clad in a loose set of civilian clothes, the teenager lay full length on the thick, cushiony pile of the carpeted floor. He gazed unblinking into Celestia Kyuubit's soft brown eyes.

She stared placidly into his. The warrior girl lay on her side, her strawberry blond hair lying loose across the deep blue of the carpet like a fallen halo. She had exchanged her own armor for some casual civilian clothes that did nothing whatsoever to tone down her womanly curves; the girl was certainly an early bloomer. Her perfume, a sweet, almost buttery scent, reminded Zero strongly of the gardenias that grew by his home back in Windy Fountains. Blond fox ears and tail lent her a vulpine touch, and a pouch at her hip clinked in the specific way small weaponry sometimes clinks.

After another long moment of quiet, locked gazes, Celestia moved her remaining bishop three squares diagonally. Zero glanced down at the board and frowned, his shoulders slumping.

"You're going to win again. You're too good, Celes."

"Ha. I know," the strawberry blonde grinned as her opponent moved his queen. In rapid succession, as if the victory had already been won, they finished the last five moves of the game. The foxy warrior girl knocked over the other teenager's king with a rook. "But you fell right into Fowlinger's folly. I thought everyone knew about that old trap."

"I knew about it. I was just helpless to stop it. Can any of the masters even beat you?"

"Naw." She laughed. "They're missing out on an education in losing. You're my only student."

"Hmm. Yeah." He rolled onto his back, staring at the ceiling.

Celes' face pursed slightly. She swept the chess pieces into their box and put it away in a cabinet with all the other games. Swaying in a way that could make a monk reconsider celibacy, the foxy warrior girl sauntered right through Zero's field of vision to collapse onto the couch.

"My neck is all sore from playing from the floor like that," she complained. "As the winner, I demand you do as I say and give me a massage."

The blond gazed sightlessly at the ceiling another moment before he responded. "Sure."

Zero got off the floor, sat down on the couch, and put a pillow on his lap. Celestia stretched out with a yawn and laid her head face up on the cushion. She closed her eyes as the muscled teenager brushed aside her strawberry blond hair and got to work. Hands that could shatter bones in their grip gently sought out the knots in the muscles along her neck. "The soreness would go away if you slept and rebooted."

"Yeah, but this feels nice. Zero, what's wrong?"

He blinked. "Nothing."

Celestia pouted. "Liar. You said you trusted me, and now you're hiding something."

"No, it's not like that." His fingers worked along the base of her skull, and he placed one hand along her jawbone for better leverage. She narrowed her eyes and made as if to bite him. He jerked his hands away and folded his arms.

Celestia glared. "You've been acting funny all day, and I'm sick of it. Spill."

The other teenager looked away. "Tomorrow's my birthday. I'll be fifteen."

She raised an eyebrow at this news. "And? What else?"

"That's it. That's all. Do you want your neck rubbed or not?"

"Yes. But I also want to know you trust me."

Gazing down on her, the muscled blond teenager cracked a smile. He pulled a stray lock of hair out of the foxy warrior's face.

"I trust you. You know all that I am, Celes. I could never ask for more."

The girl sighed and flipped over, leaving her neck more easily accessible to him. "Fine. Stop moping and get back to work. I expect full disclosure at the earliest juncture."

Zero chuckled as he massaged the lumps of tension out of her neck. "You've been watching that detective show again."

"Only with you. That Gemini guy gives me the creeps."

"You've got his lingo down."

"Do not." She pinched his belly.

"Mmm. Shoulders next?"

"You know it."

"How do you get all these knots?"

"I hate school."

"But you're so smart. It's the crowds?"

She shivered. "And the men. They're all brutes. All but you."

Zero frowned. "You say that a lot. When was the last time a man was kind to you?"

"About three seconds ago, when you—oh, I take it back, that feels even better. Keep doing it."

"You know what I mean. Why are you afraid of men? What happened, Celes?"

Celestia's recumbent figure stiffened under Zero's touch. He abandoned her shoulder muscles and rubbed the heels of his hands up and down her back.

She said nothing for a long time, her form taut. Zero's questing fingers found and mercilessly eliminated the sore, stiffened muscle groups beneath the foxy girl's thin shirt and supple skin. Beneath his ministration, her body slowly melted until she lay totally slack across the pillow on his lap. Her fluffy fox tail quietly hid itself under her legs.

Zero spoke to her again, his voice quiet. "Please tell me, Celes. I want to help you."

The warrior girl pushed weakly at the pillow, and Zero stopped massaging. He pulled her up into his arms, allowing her to throw aside the cushion and curl up on his lap. Her hair tickled his nose, and the smell of gardenias in bloom flooded the teenager's senses.

They held that pose for several seconds, their processors thrumming gently. Then the fourteen-year-old girl spoke, her voice so soft that Zero with his superhuman hearing could barely make out the words.

"They told me they found me on the doorstep. The ones in charge at the orphanage, they told me they found me in an old whiskey crate on the doorstep, screaming my head off. I was barely a month old. Before I was even old enough to understand them, they said that my mother was a drunken whore and I was nothing. They gave me a nickname to match: Null. That was my name for so long: Null Kyuubit, the nobody fox.

"I was nothing but a burden to them. Worthless. Useless. When they weren't saying it with words they were saying it by ignoring me. Then, sometime when I was eleven, things got worse. A lot worse.

"I don't know how they ever got away with it. I don't think they did it to all of us, or all the girls. Maybe that's how they kept it secret." She curled up tighter in Zero's embrace. "It went on for months, on and off. It felt like a lot longer. Now it's just a blur.

"When I turned twelve they had to lend me over to the local administrator to be christened. I got weapons and armor, like a warrior. I learned my real name: Celestia.

"When I came back, they still called me Null, like I was still nothing, but they didn't try to get me again. I knew, then, that I wasn't the bad one like I always thought, but that they were the ones that were bad. I was still afraid, but I was angry, too, and they were afraid I might be able to hurt them. Stalemate."

Her voice grew stronger. "When I turned fourteen they let me apply for fighting colleges. I thought at first that they wanted to get rid of me. I know better now. They wanted me to see the crowds, to be out in the open, and they wanted me to panic. They wanted me to come back to the orphanage again, scared and hopeless.

"It would have worked, too. When I came here I thought I would die; it was my first time out in a big place for a long, long time, and I could feel the wind around me, touching me. And there were men everywhere, ignoring me or looking at me in that way they always do."

She gazed up at Zero, her brown eyes searching his strongly built, angular face. Her long, pointed fox ears twitched. "You saved me. You carried me out of the crowd like I was something fragile, and when you saw me again you told me I was something wonderful. You're looking at me like that right now, like you care what I am. Why do you care when no one else ever did?"

"I'm not the only one that cares. I've talked to your teachers, Celes, and they all worry about you. They want you to be happy, but you push them away. Master Sorenson thinks you want him dead."

"They don't want me to be happy. They just want me, and everything else is a ploy to catch me off guard. You're the only one I can trust." She uncurled enough to wrap her arms around his chest. "You're the only man I'll ever need."

Zero sighed and ran a hand through the foxy warrior's silky blond hair. "Then I'll be a good man. For you."

Suddenly the teenager's teleconsole beeped, signaling the arrival of a text message. Celestia let go of him. "Go ahead and check that."

Zero's eyes searched her face a moment, but he obeyed. The teenage girl watched his visage, and the corners of her mouth turned down. "It's Master Garreth, isn't it. I heard he was going to try again."

"Yeah. This is the eleventh time."

"Do you really have to duel him? He's so mean, and I don't want him to hurt you."

The teenage warrior shrugged. "It's not like a deathmatch duel. He can't really hurt me with the training weapons we use. Besides, I've won the last five battles."

"I know. I shouldn't be afraid, but I am. Just be careful, will you, Zero?"

He smiled at her. "For you, I will be careful."

At this point Celes' teleconsole let of a little buzz. She fumbled in her pocket and silenced it.

Zero cocked his head slightly. "Who was it?"

"I don't know and I don't care. The only person I want to talk to is right here in this room. Weren't you saying something about taking me somewhere tomorrow night?"

The teenage boy blinked. "Er, what?"

"I remember now. You were going on about one of those concerts you always drag me to. I hope you're not going to make me ride that horrible motorcycle of yours again."

"Um. Yes?"

"Hmm. Well, fine, but only if you pay for the tickets. What time are you planning on picking me up, anyway?"

"Uh…six…thirty…" Zero said slowly. "Yeah. Definitely six thirty. I'll wear, um, my armor, so you'll know it's me."

Celestia cocked an eyebrow at the warrior. Her weapons pouch clinked as she pushed herself off his lap. "Are you sure? Maybe you'd better wear a big, fat sign that says 'Zero Doppler', so I don't have to work my tiny brain too hard."

"That's not what I meant." His brows wrinkled as she got off the couch and put on her shoes. "I always wear armor. Er. Yeah."

The foxy warrior girl put her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes. Her own armor, a rose colored set of chain mail, materialized around her. "Right. That explains everything. Are you going to walk me home now or what?"

"Yes. Yes I am," Zero said, running a hand through his hair. His black bodysuit and crimson plate mail appeared on his body, replacing the civilian clothes. His expression smoothed and he smiled as he opened the door out of the sorority. The blond held the door open for the warrior girl, who punched his arm on her way out.

"Keep smirking like that and I'll give you a fat lip." She bared her teeth, showing off her little fox fangs, and pulled him with her into the dark, chilly night.

The teenage boy smiled wider. His TC beeped again, but he didn't even blink at the noise. He put an arm around Celestia's shoulders, their armor clinking as it met.

"Glad to hear it."

* * *

**Part Three: Trust**

Light poured from the sky like honey speckled with rust. As he strode across campus, Zero's hair rippled in the ruddy morning light like a ginger fountain. His sabre rattled very slightly in its hip sheath as he walked, but the scarlet armor and shield remained nearly silent.

The crimson warrior soon neared a building whose sign declared it to be the HFA Counseling Services Center. It was only a dumpy little single-story structure, practically hidden by the tennis courts. He hopped up the stair to the front door and stepped across the threshold.

The waiting room was empty at this time in the morning. Zero tapped a little bell at the closed reception window, and somewhere in the back he heard a buzzing noise.

Momentarily, a tall, willowy woman in a softly colored dress appeared from the rooms beyond. Beaming and murmuring "Good morning," she opened the door between the lobby and the office proper and waved the young warrior into one of the chambers beyond. He followed her in, and the woman sat down on a chair.

"Zero, thank you for coming. What can I help you with today? I'm all ears." She smiled brightly and crossed her legs.

He closed the door behind him. "Mrs. Naide, it's about Celes. You said you wanted regular updates."

"Oh, don't put it that way. I just want to hear about how she's doing. Heaven knows she never comes to me with her problems."

Zero looked around. The sea foam paint job and totally threadbare mauve carpeting exemplified the tone of the furnishings for this particular room. A lamp the size and general shape of a goat standing on its hind legs decorated one of the bronzed end tables. Eye-watering paintings covered the walls. "Hmm."

Counselor Sarah Naide smiled and laced her fingers together, keeping her own gaze locked firmly on him. "Oh, but I'm so glad you've decided to help me help Celestia. It was so kind and sensible of you to bring her in when you spotted her panicking in the registrar the first day of the semester. And I hear you've been so very good to her in the few weeks since then."

She stared into Zero's sapphire eyes, her own green ones sparkling in the light flowing in through the one-way window. He stared back woodenly, his jaws suddenly locked together. After a long, silent moment, the counselor continued.

"Please, tell me everything she told you. Celestia's in a very fragile state right now, and if I can find out where she is then I can help you know what to do to help her. Also, I need to know exactly how far you've gone with her personally, Zero."

The crimson warrior glanced away, blushing. "It's not like that. I'm her friend, not her boyfriend."

Naide remained silent, her countenance and form still as a statue's. Several seconds passed, and the teenager finally looked her in the eyes and broke the hush.

"She told me everything. Her life story, from beginning to now. It was much worse than I thought. I don't know how she wakes up every morning."

He lapsed into silence again, leaning forward on the chair. He clenched his hands tightly in his lap, staring into the counselor's carefully made up visage. She said nothing, but nodded, waiting.

After another long silence, Zero sat back and closed his eyes. Folding his arms and tilting his head back, he gave up the entire tale of the previous night, repeating the conversation word for word and narrating emotionally important bits of action. The counselor occasionally pressed for more detail, her green eyes fixed on the teenager's countenance. He told her everything, and at the end he sat and waited for her to speak.

Naide pulled a strand of her glossy black hair away from her nose, which it had been tickling. "This is good to hear, Zero—not the story, but the fact that she trusted you well enough to tell it to you. It's such a terrible shame she can't seem to believe in anybody else. Maybe it would help her if you—"

The crimson warrior's TC bleeped loudly. He jumped to his feet like he'd been jabbed in the butt. "I'm sorry. You'll have to send it to me in an encrypted letter. You have my teleconsole's address. I will return next week. You may bill me for your time." He moved speedily to the door.

Mrs. Naide stood quickly, and the blond stopped with his hand on the door latch when she spoke. "Please wait, Zero. Consider coming back before then, for your own sake. I'm grateful for all you're doing for Celestia, but she's not the only one who's had trouble. I'm here for you any time if you want to talk about your parents."

"Thank you. I must go." He strode out of the office, mashing his TC's buttons to deactivate the alarm.

The teleconsole bore Flash's signature mark, a beetle encased in amber. Scratched, dented, and generally abused in its years of valiant service, the stubby little device still worked as well as the day he'd had his programmer friend modify it. Zero had never asked for all the details, but the older teenager had at least added the armor plating, redesigned the interface, and upgraded the firewall software.

He managed to silence its bleeping. An automated female voice, suspiciously similar to Iris' level alto tones, replaced the noise.

"Please take notice. Your scheduled event: 'Duel with Master William Gareth,' begins in three minutes."

Zero smiled briefly, then stuffed the teleconsole into a pouch on his leg and sprinted across campus. Air rushed over his body as he accelerated over the university grounds, yellow mane streaming behind him like a warlord's banner. The crimson warrior's legs propelled him straight through an orchard, over a fenced playground currently empty of children, and past the Fifth Honorable Courtyard, occupied at the moment by a massive flower sale. A couple of third-year coeds in decorative aprons gasped, their hair whipped around by the wind of his passage.

In another minute, Zero began to slow down. A massive stone building loomed up before him, its bronze-inlaid, ironwood double doors covered with highly stylized engravings of battles from the Wind server's history. The crimson warrior skidded to a stop, adding very slightly to the ruts worn into the stone in front of the huge portal. He pushed the doors open and strode inside.

Displays of armor and weapons covered the walls of the lobby. More bronze and dark wood coated every available surface in sweeping, detailed high- and low-relief representations of wars, heroes, monsters, weapons, and all the other things that make up the lies more popularly known as legends. Knots of students chattered and gossiped around the room, concentrated most thickly around a long reception desk to one side of the entryway. Multiple doors and hallways led out of the chamber and into various arenas and their associated observation theaters, where spectators could watch pairs or teams of fighters battle for fun, honor, prizes, or to impress the ladies.

Several older warriors, 6th or 7th year students at least, manned the place under the guidance of a wrinkled, elderly man whose body bristled with weapons. Some of the man's blades were sheathed and some of the guns holstered, but many were simply strapped on or hung unguarded from his armor. Where he walked, warriors rippled aside like sheep from a mastiff.

Zero hadn't taken five steps into the building before the old man stopped berating a couple of burly youths and turned towards him. The aged fighter gave them a parting word or three, and the young men slunk off like children banished to their rooms while he limped towards the armored blond teenager.

"Well now, Little Mr. Doppler, what a pleasure to see ye here! I hear yer booked to duel Master Gareth again. Yer up for another round with him?"

He grinned, showing off a few lonely teeth making a defiant last stand against the black rot that had taken so many of their brethren. A reek of peppermint hovered around the man like a cloud. It almost covered his eye-watering halitosis…almost.

Zero shrugged. "Thank you, Master Truckle, I'll live. Which arena did he reserve?"

"The Jungle Room, right on the ground floor. Hurry up or you'll lose by default," Truckle grinned again.

Zero bowed to the venerable fighter and pushed his way through the crowd. Several students pointed and stared, and the ambient conversational noise tripled. The crimson warrior's highly acute hearing picked up a dozen separate conversations starting at once.

"—he never does, you know. Stubborn kid, I'll give him—"

"His crazy hacker buddy helps him, I heard it from a friend of mine. He comes down from WPU with some kinda teleport program and—"

"No, I don't think he's been beaten since—"

"—take him down a few notches. If I weren't so busy with other stuff—"

"—ever scrap with Master Truckle? Naw, he'd be a smear on the floor, and serve him right, if you ask—"

"—that Kyuubit girl all to himself, beats up anyone that looks at her—"

"Hey, whut about his mum and pop? No wunder they dun a runner, little monster he is—"

"—look, so I like the hair, so sue me. All I'm saying is—"

By the time he'd reached the hallway to the Little Jungle dressing rooms, Zero's face had set into a grimace. He strode quickly down the empty corridor, allowing the door to the lobby to swing shut behind him. The walls here were bare, if well-polished, granite flecked with mica and the occasional vein of garnet. Yellow light flowed softly from the ceiling as the crimson warrior passed various doors.

Suddenly purple lightning flashed down the corridor behind him, earthing itself randomly in the walls and floor. Zero ducked and rolled away in a red and black blur of movement.

He came up facing the threat with sabre and shield at the ready.

* * *

**Part Four: Blood**

The lightning arced out from a central point, a lavender orb that floated in the hallway with no visible means of support. Zero crouched at the ready, but his body relaxed slightly as the orb emitted a pair of voices: one a loud, rambling tenor, the other a steady alto.

"See, nothing like last year. He's still upright and we've got all our bits attached, even the little ones. No badliness at all, Sis."

"Many apologies, Flash; I misjudged your abilities. Now, may we emerge?"

The orb's energies crackled and swirled outwards, expanding to form a violet rectangle four feet wide and seven feet tall. Iris Cainson emerged from the portal, smiling at her surroundings. She stepped to the side as her crazed older brother stumbled out after her to collapse on the floor. Zero stood and sheathed his weapon as the siblings' unusual mode of transportation collapsed in on itself and winked out of existence. Oddly, the hallway had taken no damage during the entire event.

Before they could speak, the crimson warrior bowed to the mad programmer and his sister. "I'm extremely sorry. I don't have time to talk. If I'm late I'll lose by default. If you would like to watch the duel, talk to Master Truckle. He's the old man covered in weapons in the lobby." He bowed again and sprinted down the hallway.

Flash stood and watched him go. He scratched his head. "Huh. Must've gotten here early. I thought he'd be done with it by now."

Iris glanced at her brother. "Flash, when you programmed the teleport into here, did you get permission from the domain administrator first?"

"Psh. When do I ever ask permission?" he pulled out what looked like an origami swan folded from a thin square of silver and started tweaking its shape. "I should try to sneak him a real weapon for the fight."

"You know very well how angry he would be if you did, Flash. While I'm talking to this Master Truckle, would you please try contacting Miss Kyuubit one more time? I would really like for her to be in on the plan."

Flash snorted. "Haha, she's stonewalled me days and days. Time for some heavy supercow sugapie soo-prise, Sis. See you real, real soon."

Ignoring Iris' protests, the mad programmer stepped away and muttered a nonsensical series of syllables. "EXECUTE teleporttype:secure/biotransfer(1, , 1, 3, domain:HFA/Hall of Honorable Combat/First Level/hall4, domain:HFA/Quartz Terrace/number303/main room, leavegate:3 minutes);."

Flash's form wavered like a mirage and he pixilated. The data that made up his body streamed through a hole in the air with a noise like a thousand tiny chimes tinkling in the breeze. Finally, the hole disappeared as well, leaving Iris alone in the hallway.

The brunette shook her head and sighed. She picked the metallic origami up off the floor and gently tucked it away in her purse. Then she walked out into the lobby.

She found herself in a room filled with warrior students, many of which were older than her and all of which had more weapons and armor than her. Her eyes swept the area, and the brunette glided unhesitating through the crowd towards the only man with enough armaments to level a small city.

The wrinkly old fighter grinned at her the same way he grinned at everything else in life. "Heh. Who're you, little missy?"

The brunette bowed, careful not to inhale the sickening combination of dragon breath and peppermint stink. "Forgive me for not announcing my entrance, Master Truckle. I am Iris Cainson, and I'm here to watch Zero's duel."

"Then ye'd better hurry, missy. Down thet hallway, first door on yer left, should be packed by now. Nothing like kids beatin' the snot out of each other teh draw a crowd, I've always sed." He chuckled with a noise like bones rattling in a drain. "Heh, half these oily-faced whelps show up without knowing who's fighting who, but lucky for them there's always some scrap goin'." He paused, regarding her through narrowed brown eyes. "Now, see, they're not used to having pretty girls without armor hanging about, but I don't think anybody should give ye trouble since yer ONE OF ZERO DOPPLER'S FRIENDS. No one wants to mess about with a GIRL THAT'S CLOSE TO DOPPLER."

Iris' gaze remained fixed on the old fighter while she became the center of her own personal bubble of emptiness in the crowded room. The brunette bowed again.

"Thank you, Master Truckle. Your help is much appreciated." She turned and sashayed away uncontested, down a hallway and into the first door on her left.

It was like a tiny movie theater, complete with four screens showing separate angles of the Jungle Room arena. Warriors of either gender chatted to one another as they waited for the show to start. Some of them had drinks.

Every seat was already taken. Iris pursed her lips in thought. Flattery, flirtation, intimidation, or bargaining?

She spotted a group of three male warriors in the middle of the theater and recognized them as frequent attendees of the local juvenile detention center. Iris made a habit of keeping up on people, and these ones usually showed up on police records with busted armor and bruises. Right now, one of them even had an unopened soda.

The brunette smiled. Flirtatation it was.

A busy two minutes passed, at the end of which Iris had exactly the seat she wanted. One seat on either side of her had emptied as well, their occupants removed for brawling among themselves. Situated in a cushy chair near the middle of the theater, the girl popped open her fresh new can of ice-cold cherry coke and glanced between the arena's four screens; she didn't even have to strain her neck. Iris smiled as she watched Zero enter the arena.

* * *

Celestia tapped the screen of her teleconsole, dragging a bunch of letters with titles like "please answer", "no, seriously, it's important", "HOYT!", and "come on, just answer already, okay?" into the recycle bin icon.

"Crazy programmer," she muttered under her breath. "Just leave me alone already." She glanced up at the big screen TC standing by the wall of the main room of her on-campus apartment, #303 Quartz Terrace. Her roommate had gone off to some class or another, leaving Celestia full control over the high quality teleconsole.

The sixty-inch widescreen monitor displayed four live video feeds of the Jungle Room. They were, in fact, the same feeds as those displayed in the theater of the Hall of Honorable Combat where Iris and forty-five young warriors watched and waited. Celestia's back straightened and her fox ears twitched when she saw Zero walk onto the field, holding the dull gray, nonlethal training version of his sabre in hand.

At that moment lightning crackled into life in front of the teleconsole. Celestia screamed and ducked under the table as the purple sphere of the teleportation program grew swiftly into a door. The warrior girl trembled, her tail bristling, as Flash Cainson shot out of the portal and smacked into the wall.

"Velocity match failed. Concussion error 771. Ouch." The brunet slumped to the floor.

"You pusbag! What are you doing here?" Celestia hissed, clawing at her weapons pouch with shaking hands.

Flash opened his light amber eyes and looked over at her. "Hi. I like…pants."

"Get out or I'll hurt you! I will!"

"Do you like pants?" He made no move to get up.

Celestia (who for the record, wore pants rather than dresses or skirts most of the time) drew a couple of little glass beads from the pouch and tried to mumble their activation key. She tripped over the words and the beads dropped from her nerveless fingers. Whimpering, she curled up into a ball, covering her face and clenching her toes.

"Leave me alone. Leave me alone or Zero will hurt you. He'll kill you if you touch me."

"Do you like Zero's pants?" The concussed hacker blinked and shook his head. His eyes focused more clearly on the strawberry blonde. "Do you like Zero?"

Zero hastily stuffed his sabre and kite shield into the locker of the little changing room and drew out dull grey replicas of each. He shoved open the door to the Jungle Room and strode into the arena. His opponent stood roughly forty yards away, by the door at the other end of the white, featureless room.

Master William Gareth boasted nineteen more years' experience, several inches of height and reach, and a couple dozen pounds of muscle mass over his teenage opponent. He wore olive green scale mail layered with hunter green chain mail, and carried a dull gray round shield. He kept his long, black hair in a ponytail that sprouted from the back of his helmet, a dark mirror to Zero's thick blond mane.

The olive green warrior flourished his curved gray scimitar at the warrior boy. His face contorted into a feral scowl, he snarled at his opponent from across the arena. "Finally, the prodigy shows up to fight. Do you know why I've challenged you to this duel, Zero?"

"Give up now, Master Gareth. I've learned all you have to teach me." Zero's shoulders were loose, his face expressionless.

The combat master's face twisted into a sneer. "Arrogant twerp. Fine. I'll teach you the one lesson you haven't learned after all this time. Humility. Ready?"

The teenager shrugged. "Ready."

For a brief moment, the arena remained a grey, featureless rectangle, a warrior on either end. Then, in the blink of an eye, the Jungle Room transformed.

Heat and humidity thickened the air to the consistency of gumbo, and the place became lousy with simulated life. Birds cried raucously from the trees, foliage ran from the fern-filled floor to the fifty-foot ceiling, and insects buzzed constantly through the steamy air. They weren't viral insects, not in this carefully controlled place, but their noise and all the other ambient noises dulled any sounds made by the two combatants inside. For that matter, the multicolored flora offered a great deal of visual cover. Zero knew the Jungle Room to be fully forty yards long, but he could see at most ten yards in any given direction.

The crimson warrior jumped, kicked off a tree trunk, and landed softly on a branch thirty feet up. He gazed out into the battlefield, his sapphire eyes playing across the area below and above.

Meanwhile, the combat master crouched on the ground among the fronds of a pair of ferns. His olive green scale mail armor clung tightly to his supple, hunter green bodysuit. Gareth had not yet drawn the scimitar sheathed on his back, but he clutched his large, round shield tightly in his right hand. His narrow hazel eyes swept from side to side, and he crept noiselessly through the foliage.

The two warriors maneuvered around the jungle, each trying to detect the other before he himself could be detected.

Iris leaned forwards, hands clutching her knees. The brunette felt her processors beating loudly in her chest as she watched them. She blinked and frowned as a few teenagers to her left began to comment on the match.

"This is boring as *****. Everyone knows that Doppler kid's gonna mop the floor with Gareth again."

"Yeah, what's with that? You'd think the loser would get the picture. He's pathetic."

"He's Master Gareth to us," said another of them. "And he's just ticked that the kid keeps mouthing off. Everyone knows Doppler's a stuck-up ***** that thinks he's better'n the rest of us."

"Whatever, man, Gareth is one stone short and he can't take losing to a kid. I hear they're gonna fire him soon if he keeps it up."

"Then Master Gareth needs to win to protect his job. Good luck to him, I say."

"Don't be an idiot, Marty. It's not the losing that'll get him fired. It's the fighting."

Marty glared. "Lots of combat masters challenge Zero to duel."

"Yeah, but—whoah!"

Metal clashed on metal as the two warriors on the screens finally found each other. Zero rained blows on Gareth's shield and scimitar, driving the taller, more experienced swordsman towards a thick patch of vines and ferns. For a moment, the scarlet armored teenager kept the combat master too busy on defense to launch a counterattack; several times, his sabre nicked at the man's arms or legs.

The nonlethal training weapon didn't actually cut, but Gareth felt pain lance through him whenever it struck. In addition, sensors embedded in every part of the room read the force, angle, and positioning of each blow. The arena's AI read the results and deducted appropriately from the victim's simulated life points with every successful attack. The simulated life points of each warrior showed in a glowing bar at the bottom of the video feed that covered him personally.

Gareth's life bar had shrunk twenty-five percent in the first few seconds. He stumbled backwards, apparently overbalanced. Zero darted in for the victory, his sabre slashing towards the master's neck. The older warrior brought up his round shield to block, but not fast enough.

As the dull grey blade cut a searing line of agony across Gareth's throat, he fell prone and his simulated life points dropped instantly to zero. A loud buzzing noise filled the arena as the scenery and the crimson warrior's training weapon and shield evaporated like smoke.

In the theater, the words "Match Complete. Winner: Zero Doppler" flashed across the top of the screen. In the arena, which had reverted from jungle to featureless gray walls and black floor, Zero stepped back from his defeated opponent.

Then the teenager's eyes flicked down to the man's scimitar and round shield. They hadn't evaporated like his saber and kite shield.

Gareth sprang to his feet, roaring as his scimitar sliced through the air towards the blond's face.

Caught flatfooted, Zero arched his back away from the blade and threw his hands out behind him. The teenager's sapphire eyes widened as the weapon's lethal edge came within inches of his face, cutting off a stray lock of his yellow mane.

In response to Zero's dodge, Gareth reversed the scimitar's momentum. The olive warrior brought the blade down in a thrust at the crimson warrior belly as he twisted and tumbled out of the way. Gareth's weapon connected, scratching the scarlet plating over Zero's groin and sliding down into a crease in his leg plating.

Shining data spattered from the wound as the crimson warrior flipped backwards into a crouching handstand. Gareth moved his shield to block as his opponent's feet came up in a kick, but the sheer force of the blow drove him off balance.

As the combat master regained his footing Zero did the same. For a fraction of a second, the two warriors squared off, one weaponless and bleeding, the other flourishing his scimitar and beckoning with his shield.

Then Zero leapt, reaching for his opponent with both hands.

Gareth shouted, "Hah!" and struck, his scimitar cutting diagonally down and across at his opponent's wrists. Zero pulled in his arms and smashed headfirst into the combat master's face, making a sound like a sledgehammer hitting a steak.

The older man grunted and twisted to the side as his head snapped backwards, while Zero somersaulted in the air to land on his feet. Gareth staggered but stayed upright, whirling around and swinging blindly with the scimitar. The crimson warrior spun around in a graceful, flowing high kick at the descending wrist.

Gareth stepped into the blow, aborting the swing and deflecting Zero's kick with his shield again. He lifted the shield as he blocked, throwing the crimson warrior's foot up high. As the blond flipped helpless in mid-air the scimitar came up in an uppercut that lacerated the tough black bodysuit and laid open his belly. Zero tumbled to the ground, prone, data gushing from his wounds.

Bellowing like an offended buffalo, Gareth brought his scimitar down in an overhead horsecut. The blade arced down at Zero's eyes.

A sound like two hands clapping echoed through the arena an instant before the twang of shattered metal. Zero dropped the broken length of scimitar to one side and got to his feet. Data streamed from his palms where the razor-sharp edge had cut through his gloves and into the muscles of his thumbs.

Gareth stumbled backwards, raising the lonely hilt of his weapon like a holy symbol against an avenging vampire. The crimson warrior grabbed the edge of his enemy's round shield for leverage and landed an uppercut on the man's chin. While the olive green warrior reeled from the blow, Zero wrested the hilt of the scimitar away and used the remaining fragment of blade to sever the tendons of Garreth's shield arm. The combat master's last defense dropped nerveless to his side.

Holding the olive warrior by the throat, the muscled blond repeatedly banged the man in the helmet with the pommel of the broken weapon. Gareth's helmet cracked and split under the assault, and Zero slammed the pommel home once more on his temple. As the combat master's eyes crossed, the teenager slugged him in the mouth with his other hand and hooked his left foot behind the olive warrior's right knee. Zero simultaneously pulled with his leg and dropped his left elbow on the side of his enemy's neck, knocking the man violently to the ground.

For a moment the blond just stood there, eyes staring unfocused at his broken, battered foe. Then the scimitar's hilt clattered to the floor, and Zero buckled at the knees, collapsing atop the other warrior. Blood data pooled on the ground beneath them.

* * *

**Part Five: Serenity**

For the third time that day, purple lightning announced Flash's arrival on the scene. Celestia and the mad programmer respectively leapt and tumbled out of the teleport program and into the bare, grey Jungle Room. A team of medical programmers burst out of a door on one side of the arena, and Master Truckle arrived through the other side.

Zero twitched and groaned as his self-repair systems healed his wounds. Celestia fell to her knees, clutching her arms and watching him wide-eyed. Flash called up a pair of grey walls to block out the medics and Truckle out, but the combat master's form blurred and he appeared inside the barrier.

"Nice try, little wizard. Do it agin and I'll gut ye." Truckle strode over to the fallen warriors and hauled Gareth up by his throat. Zero's body tumbled aside like a big, heavily armored rag doll.

"I don't care if you want to keep the doctors away from yer little red friend. Never been one for doctors misself. But I'll be taking this one." The wrinkly old man disappeared with his younger colleague, leaving behind the reek of peppermint.

As the medics beat unheeded on the other side of the grey force wall, Zero rolled to his feet and opened his eyes. His gaze flicked from the walls, to Flash, and finally to Celestia.

The foxy warrior girl held her breath, watching him unblinkingly. She parted her lips—

"You're alive! WHOOOOOO!" Flash tackled the injured warrior, knocking him to his back. "You're not dead! This is the best birthday I've ever had."

Iris smiled. "Happy birthday, Zero. Malon wanted me to give this to you, since she couldn't get away from the performing arts school." She pressed a little media file chip into his palm, and he automatically put it in the pouch with his TC.

Celestia whipped around to face the older girl. "How did you get in here?"

"Master Truckle helped me in just now. He is a very gracious gentleman." She turned to the crimson warrior again. "Are you going to be all right?"

Zero shoved the beaming programmer off. The cuts had healed already, but his face was still white as a sheet. He stood up shakily. "I'm okay. What happened to Master Gareth?"

Iris shrugged. "The gentleman is alive as far as I know. Master Truckle did say something about a short trial and a long—"

"Doesn't matter," Flash interjected. "'Cause you're alive! Oh. Here's your stuff." He snapped his fingers, and the teenager's sabre appeared in its sheath, followed by the shield materializing on his back. Zero's hand settled unconsciously on his weapon's familiar hilt.

Celestia rose slowly from her knees, her eyes still locked on the young warrior's face. "Are you really okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Zero grumbled. He let go of his sabre and took the foxy girl around the shoulders. He clutched her close, her chain mail clattering against his own scarlet plate armor. "Don't worry, I'm here for you."  
The strawberry blonde pushed away slightly. "Don't say that. We're the ones that're here for you, Zero."

Iris nodded, her brows creased and her hands clasped down in front of her. "I'm sorry your parents aren't around to do things like spend your birthday with you, and I know we can never replace them. But please, Zero, don't lock yourself away from us by brooding about them. We will always be here for you when you need someone to talk to. We will not leave you when you need us. This I swear on the honor of the House of Cainson."

The crimson warrior stared woodenly at the amber-eyed brunette. Celestia hugged him a little tighter and Flash stared at the floor, lost for words. There was a long, silent moment.

Finally, Zero cracked a smile, his tense, muscled frame finally loosening. "Thank you. Thank you all, for everything. I couldn't ask for a better birthday."

"Hah! Well, you're going to get it anyway," Flash chortled. "'Cause we've got plans, yeswedo!"

Celestia smiled very slightly at the mad programmer and his sister before she looked back to Zero. "Yeah, you'd better be ready, buddy. Today is going to be the wildest day of your life, and then some."

Iris nodded to Flash. The mad programmer gibbered nonsensically, calling up yet another teleport spell.

"Where are we going?" Zero asked as his form began to pixilate.

"It doesn't matter," Celestia whispered. "We're all going there together."


End file.
